READING: Daniel 1-3
“And who is the god who can rescue you from my power?”
Daniel 3:15
I love it when the Word of God is almost comical—and today is one of those days. Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, had required all the people to worship a golden statue that he had set up. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednegohad refused to do so, though, knowing that they served the one and only true God. Word of their “disobedience” got to King Nebuchadnezzar, who ordered them again to worship the statue or be thrown into a furnace of fire. Then, he asked them this question about the consequences if they chose not to worship the statue again: “And who is the god who can rescue you from my power?” (Dan. 3:15).
It’s that last line that I find almost comical because I know the end of the story. Nebuchadnezzar asked the question, and the rest of the story shows that the God of the Hebrew boys was indeed able to rescue them. Scholars debate whether the fourth man in the furnace was either an angel or a theophany of pre-incarnate Jesus, but the Lord was with the Hebrew boys in a miraculous way. They were in the fire, but they were unharmed: “not a hair of their heads was singed, their robes were unaffected, and there was no smell of fire on them” (Dan. 3:27). The boys were willing to trust God even if He did not deliver them, but their trust was rewarded in their escape from the fire.
So, Nebuchadnezzar’s first question makes me laugh. Who is the god who could rescue the Hebrew boys? The king assumed no one could, but the God of the Bible proved him wrong.
ACTION STEPS:
- Pray for someone who is facing a trial today. Pray that he or she would trust God anyway.
- Trust God with the toughest thing you face today.
PRAYER: “God, thank You for being trustworthy, whether or not You deliver me from all trials.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Daniel 4-6